While the dungeon crawling component of the game didn't seem all that different from past Tales games, get into battle and you'll find some dramatic changes. This latest update to the Linear Motion Battle system keeps your character attacking on a single 2D line in a full 3D battle field. You lock yourself into a single enemy, pressing the minus button to toggle targets, then simply press A to make your character attack, or B plus a direction on the analogue stick to perform a special attack. You have the option of free movement over the battle field, although this usually isn't necessary.

Outside of a super attack move, activated with the Z button when you've adequately built up a super move gauge, the biggest addition to the battle system appears to be the ability to make monsters join your party. You're occasionally asked if you'd like to woo a beast that you've just defeated onto your side. Beasts who have made the conversion can be added to your battle party and used just like any other character during combat.

This Symphonia follow-up makes only minimal use of waggle, allowing you to shake the Wiimote and nunchuck in various ways to achieve special attacks, something that's probably better left to button presses. Instead of tapping the Wiimote, Bandai Namco has apparently decided to tap the Wii's added graphical abilities, as Knight of Ratatoskr looks quite a ways better than its predecessor.

The first Symphonia game was a huge hit amongst RPG-starved GameCube owners, and we expect no less from Knight of Ratatoskr amongst RPG-starved Wii owners. The game hits Japan in Spring, with an international release hopefully not too far out from there."

It has now been announced that in North America, the title will be known as Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.

Kotaku - February 6, 2008

"The latest Nintendo Power has, as its cover feature, the news that the latest Tales of Symphonia has been scheduled for a US release. It's currently being localised, and will drop the "Knights of Ratatosk" subtitle in favour of "Dawn of the New World". No word on a US release date, but the Japanese version's out in the spring, so it shouldn't be too much later than that."Comments (0) | Permalink

IGN - February 26, 2008

"Four years ago publisher Namco released the GameCube role-playing game Tales of Symphonia, developed by celebrated Team Symphonia. The Wii exclusive sequel, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, picks up only two years after the original game and the "new world" in question, rests in ruins. In addition to a brand new tale designed to continue the timeline of the universe, Dawn of the New World features old and new characters, a more fleshed-out battle system, and [more]."Comments (0) | Permalink

IGN - April 15, 2008

"Dawn of the New World is a spin-off from the original Tales of Symphonia, released on the GameCube in 2004. Symphonia was Namco's most successful role-playing game to date."
"A monster capturing game mechanic has been added for this sequel. There are over 200 beasts in the game to find, abduct, and level-up. Some can even evolve into new species. Feeding your pets enhances their attributes. You can offer them different dishes and a thought bubble will indicate which foods they prefer."
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WiiFanboy - March 3, 2008

"The more we see and hear about Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, the more excited we get. Not only are we craving some RPGs for the Wii (although Opoona and Baroque will be out relatively soon), but also we're happy to see how the game has improved. Tales has come a long way since its earlier screens, and we can't wait until it hits American shores." - Indeed.Comments (0) | Permalink

@apujanata,I must correct my estimate. I have mistaken this game with Tales of Vesperia. ToV in Japan will only hit 200K, tops. This game should have upper limit of 300K in Japan. Therefore, the estimated total is changed into 800 - 1.1 Million.